‘Kharg is an island,’ Meghan briefed the Agency operatives that night. ‘Twenty-five kilometers from the country’s coast, just north of the Strait of Hormuz. It is the primary terminal from which over eighty percent of Iran’s oil is exported.’
‘How much do they produce?’ Bwana chewed on gum slowly, his jaws flexing.
‘Three million barrels a day. They have ten percent of the world’s oil reserves and are the ninth largest producers. They can pump a little more, but the sanctions have crippled them. They have few buyers. Besides, they are constrained by their infrastructure. It’s old. It cannot deal with much more flow.’
‘Kharg has two jettys?’ Zeb asked when she brought up several photographs on her screen and projected them on the wall.
‘Yeah. East and West. VLCCs berth there, load, and sail through Hormuz.’
She went through the details of the strait, the chokepoints, and the final destinations for the oil, China, India and a few other countries.
‘What’s the connection between Fourth of July and Kharg?’ Chloe asked.
‘None. Werner’s come up blank, too.’
‘We’re sure Fourth is when he’s going to announce something?’ Broker asked.
‘Sure?’ Roger snapped at his friend. ‘We aren’t in the sure business, buddy. We don’t know for certain, but I agree with Zeb. Something’s going down that day.’
‘He could attack his own terminals,’ Beth offered.
Zeb straightened. Looked at her swiftly and then at the photographs on the wall.
‘What will be the effects of such an attack?’ he asked.
‘Depends on the severity of the attack,’ Meghan replied. ‘Oil prices rose by about ten percent when Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq processing plant. That’s the largest in the world. However, the prices stabilized when President Morgan said he could release some of the US reserves.’
Zeb kept staring at the images, conscious of their eyes on him. ‘We, the US, are the largest producer,’ he thought aloud.
‘Yeah,’ Meghan replied.
‘The Houthis, that attack, Iran was behind it.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Mostofi attacking his own terminals…that would damage Iran’s economy,’ Chloe objected. ‘It would hurt their people.’
‘He’ll think it’s a price worth paying. That’s how he and the Supreme Leader think. All they care about is maintaining their power and destroying the US.’
Zeb nodded unconsciously. He had studied Mostofi and the country’s senior most cleric. Meg’s right.
‘There won’t be much of an impact if he goes after Kharg,’ he concluded.
‘Yeah, that’s what Beth and I figure. Werner backs us up. Iran is a big player in oil, but there are too many constraints.’
‘Which means Mostofi has some other interest in Kharg.’
Meghan’s laptop chimed before he could reply. ‘Something from Nassour’s phone,’ she murmured and turned to her screen.
Her lips tightened when she finished reading.
‘Listen to this,’ she said and pressed play.